This dramatic and, at the time, very popular picture is evocative of the pressures that were placed upon early Christians to conform to the religion of the day. The ugly form of the many-breasted Diana is on the left. She was a blatantly pagan goddess, also known as Artemis, with prominent headquarters in the ancient city of Ephesus.
The artist imagines a scene later in time where a young girl – who has the light shining on her and takes centre stage – is presented with an ultimatum to worship Diana, or else. We see the hard-faced acolytes of this goddess looking on from around the horrible statue, impatiently waiting for the girl to submit. Just a pinch of incense is all that is required to signal her allegiance to the goddess! Her boyfriend is begging her to conform and save her life. The town recorder pitilessly reads out to her the charge of blasphemy against the goddess. The priest of Diana, seated, looks venerable but menacing at the same time. Two young children, still in their innocence, stare wide-eyed at this girl, failing to comprehend why she will not worship their goddess. Soldiers mingle around, steeling themselves to receive orders to execute the girl if and when she fails to comply with the demands of the authorities. Maybe she will be killed publicly to entertain the crowd behind.
When the apostle Paul visited Ephesus, he was seen as a rival to this established Diana cult. We read about this in Acts 19. Those who profited by selling trinkets relating to Diana perceived a danger to their trade. They set up a huge demonstration at which the clamour went up for two hours:
“Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”
Paul was surely fortunate to escape with his life from that place.
It seems to me that we are facing exactly the same choice as the girl – Diana or Christ? – in today’s Britain. The goddess figure today might not be Diana, but it is something equally secular and degrading. There are the siren voices telling us that we must be even-handed with all minorities, whether they obey God’s law or not. Then there are those forced to go along with corruption or exploitation in the workplace. In all these different ways we are expected to compromise – to offer that little pinch of incense to Diana. Will we choose her – or will we choose Christ? You wonder whether there is anybody left who is willing to make the unpopular choice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet make it we must, if we are not to betray than those who have gone before us in the faith. They held out amid great provocation and great oppression. They kept a clear conscience and a consistent witness for Christ.
It is not as if what they went through took them by surprise. The Lord Jesus Himself prophesied that persecutions would take place. He promised no cushy outcome even for those who were the most prominent in His service. The rewards will be worth every trouble, but will only be fully realised in the life to come.
Do we trust in the life to come where everything is put to rights? We too often have a wrong perspective – basically kidding ourselves that this life is all there is, and we had better feather our own nest as far as possible in order to get the best enjoyment out of it. This would be a grave mistake. A life beckons where we spend eternity in the company of our Saviour in heaven.
The apostle Paul writes:
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
The saying is trustworthy, for:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.
2 Timothy 2:10-13 ESV
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